Were medieval villages completly defenceless? Did they have any guards at all? I doubt peasants were allowed to carry weapons other than clubs. Were there any instances were large group of bandits attacked a village? When enemy army attacked what was the go to plan? Just run away?
>>950386
Depending on the era and country some classes were forced by law to have arms and to know how to use them.
For example IIRC english peasants during the later middle ages had to master the use of the longbow to a certain degree.
>>950386
Large groups of bandits wouldnt be tolerated in any Medieval state with a decent government feudal or not.
>>950386
Peasants weren't allowed to walk around armed, but many would own a weapon, typically a sword, and of course they had access to bows. Villages weren't generally protected, but then there wasn't really anything of value in them anyway. Outlaws kept to the woods, where they could rob travellers, and avoided the villages were there is nothing to steal.
>>950386
What exactly do you define as a weapon?
It was common practice for all people to carry a knife on their person and a long walking stick can be used to dish out alot of violence. Not to mention that villagers probably had an axe or two lying around for practical use.
To add to that alot of polearm weapons had their origins in peasant tools.
The sling was also a herder tool before it became a weapon of war and even tho it wasn't that popular in warfare during the relevant time period it can be used to devastating effect against an unarmoured opponent.
>>951803
Well vikings did raid villages so there must be something worth the effort in them.
>>950386
>Were medieval villages completly defenceless?
no, that was what your local lord was for, and above him the baron and above him the King. >Did they have any guards at all?
Depends on the size, except really backwater laces their would be at least few rough and ready men given a few coins to make sure brawls didnt turn deadly, or run beggars and lepers away.
>I doubt peasants were allowed to carry weapons other than clubs.
Depends where, but no most peasants would have more than a club stored away in the old barn.
> Were there any instances were large group of bandits attacked a village?
Bandits by nature dont want to attack a village and get the local nobility to mount an expedition to kill them all, much safer to prey on travellers. Now wolves invaded Paris that happened.
> When enemy army attacked what was the go to plan? Just run away?
Run to your lords keep, if the doors are barred keep going.
>>951803
>typically a sword
got a source on that fact there buddy :^)
>>951803
Swords were, atleast during the early middle ages, an upper class weapon as it was comparably expensive to make compared to other sidearms.
Keeping a spear at home makes much more sense than a sword as it is much easier and cheaper to make aswell as it is a "primary" weapon. For sidearm you could just use the woodaxe you keep at home or your trusty knife.
>>950386
Depends, where and when? 8th century Croatia will be vastly different to 14th century England.
In some places it was a requirement for commoners to possess military equipment, such as the English Assizes of Arms or local ordnances such as the Coventry mayors books that requires everyone to have a bow, helmet, jack (padded coat) or mail shirt and some other weapon (sword, axe, dagger that kind of thing presumably). Records like the Bridport '''''''muster'''''' roll show a fuckton of bows and arrows with more or less everyone turning up with them.
Larger towns would have organised watches and militia, with different trade guilds being responsible for protecting different areas and providing men to help keep the peace. Villages would probably have the same.
There's a few instances are large groups of bandits just roaming around seemingly unhindered. The Cotterell Gang are a particular famous group who terrorised Derbyshire in the 14th century. There's a court document in the British National Archives from 1341 describing 300 armed men rampaging through the Bowland area of Lancashire, attacking the foresters and pillaging villages.
Most people would run away or hide. There's an account of French villagers disguising themselves as priests in order to sneak into the English camp nearby and trying to sell them stuff so it wasn't always necessarily fire to every building and slaughter of anything that moved. Local tradition has it that during the battle of Tewkesbury, the townsfolk hid in the upstairs rooms of what is now a Wetherspoons pub.
>>950386
>Were medieval villages completly defenceless? Did they have any guards at all?
Guards were more of a city or castle kind of thing. Villages usually relied on the feudal lord for protection, which is why they usually in the vicinity of a city or castle.
>I doubt peasants were allowed to carry weapons other than clubs.
Weapon bans were usually only applied and enforced within city or castle walls where it wouldn't have made much sense anyway since they had guards to rely on. Carrying of weapons was only permitted for people of a certain rank, and it was a status symbol.
>Were there any instances were large group of bandits attacked a village?
Things like that may have happened but that would have certainly caused a reaction since the feudal lord needed to justify his status. If the bandits who would dare do such a thing would be caught, the punishment would have been quite drastic. In most cases, bandits ambushed people on their travels rather than getting all too close to the fortified structures. What did however happen more often were territorial quarrels, e.g. between peasants under the protection of different feudal lords. Ulrich von Hutten mentions that this was quite common and one of the ways how feudal lords bullied each other, e.g. by permitting or at least tolerating their peasants to take land from someone else and see how they would react, since they couldn't respond too drastically but not responding would only invite further infringements.
>When enemy army attacked what was the go to plan? Just run away?
If an enemy army attacked, people would flee to the nearby city or fortress.
>>951843
>Well vikings did raid villages so there must be something worth the effort in them.
As if that sweet pillaged peasant pussy wouldn't be reward enough
>>950386
Most of the time, smaller villages without much strategic were left to their own devices. A lord, however, did protect them.
Since they're small and not that important, peace is pretty much guaranteed, but if a rival nation for whatever reason wanted the village (their Lord's land), it'd be a fight as that is the contract between the Lord and the people: the toil and he and his men protect.
